The Arctic Circle saw record-high temperatures in 2020, NOAA report finds

Last summer, Russia reached 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit — the highest temperature ever measured within the Arctic Circle, according to an annual climate report released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. With help from a record-breaking concentration of carbon dioxide on the planet, the Arctic's surface air temperature broke a 121-year record in 2020.

"Today scientists sounded the alarm on the climate crisis again," Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, said in a statement regarding the report. "It is clear that without swift action, we can unfortunately expect to set new records like these every year." The 31st annual State of the Climate report, published by the American Meteorological Society and led by the NOAA, is based on work from over 530 scientists in more than 60 different countries. It confirmed 2020 was among the three warmest years in recorded history. Despite a 6 to 7% reduction of carbon dioxide emissions as a result of the pandemic shutdowns, carbon dioxide emissions reached its highest level of concentration at the planet's surface in at least the last 800,000 years.